Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 Review
Written on 6/30/2009 03:52:00 PM by poison_ivy
When Samsung first announced their Omnia line-up, I initially thought that the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 was the follow-up to one of my favorite Samsung Winmo devices: the Samsung i780. I was disappointed when I found out that the Samsung B7320 doesn't sport a touchscreen. My anticipation for the device fizzled.
Design
Compared with the Samsung i780, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 seems to be a bit thicker and "pudgy". I do like the brown color but again, I don't like the keypad design. It's also too bad that Samsung scrapped the optical D-pad with a regular one. It would have went well with their Samsung homescreen. Aside from the directional keypad, there are two softkeys that flank the D-Pad, a homescreen button, a back button, and the call and end buttons.
Features and Performance
Like what everybody in the US is thinking, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 already looks like the twin of an already existing Samsung WinMo device that is available on AT&T: The Samsung i637 Jack. What is different about the Samsung B7320 over the i637 Jack is the homescreen. When I first saw the picture of the Samsung B7320, I thought it was a touchscreen device since it has a Samsung TouchWiz-like homescreen. For those already used with the Samsung TouchWiz Interface, you might find yourself at times fondling the screen, forgetting that the B7320 is NOT a touchscreen phone. The TouchWiz-like interface on the Omnia Pro B7320 works using the directional pad. The home key would take you to the widgets side and pressing the right button or the center directional key will bring up the menus under that widget. It's a bit confusing at first and I was like: What was Samsung thinking? The only other thing different about the B7320 from the i637 is that the former has a secondary camera for video calling, an autofocus for the camera as well as smile shutter and face detection.
Anyways, after a while, you will get used to browsing the homescreen. It's a pretty interface but it does nothing at hiding the classic WinMo interface. What was improved though is the photo browser on the homescreen widget. As you can see from the picture, you will get a coverflow like interface when browsing your pictures using the homescreen widget. I also like the way Samsung skinned the Windows Media Player. It's still the Windows Media Player but you can hardly tell. I wish Samsung would have added their own music player on it.
The camera is also an improvement from the i780. There's a bigger resolution plus, as I've mentioned, the addition of smile shutter, face detection, autofocus, etc. I took a sample shot but I think I may have deleted it. Anyways, since the place I was testing the unit was a bit dark, the B7320 didn't do so well compared with the Samsung Jet S8000, I can't exactly comment on the picture quality but I've never had problems with Samsung's picture quality before.
Halfway through browsing the device, I fell asleep...Well--almost. It was just, this device seemed so boring and plain with nothing new to offer--in short, it's like a Motorola Q!! Don't get me wrong, it's solid and fast but I don't know, it's all pretty standard to me. It may be because every manufacturer out there has been dressing up their windows mobile devices that reverting back to the old windows mobile interface just bored me to tears. Yes there are new apps such as facebook and twitter but I don't really use those social networking sites. Oh yeah, there's an additional FM radio with RDS, HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth.
Anyways, audio quality is passable although at high volumes audio comes out tinny. I was so bored to tears that I didn't even bother checking out the browser which was an Opera browser.
Conclusion
For those WinMo fans who're looking for the old and classic Windows Mobile Interface, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 might appeal to you (yes, I know of some who missed the old WinMo interface terribly). But for those who are hooked to touchscreens and the next generation of Windows Mobile devices, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 is just so old school that it might not catch your attention. Better wait for the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610.
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WHAT? No touchscreen?!!! Yeah, definitely should not be part of the Omnia line-up
I'm one of those people who miss the old windows mobile interface. I'm not looking for anything flashy, I just want my WinMo Device to run fast without the color pinwheel showing up or the device hanging. Now 528MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM, this looks mighty nice.
I bought this phone couple of days back (having previously used a Nokia) and I should say its no way a disappointment. B7320 is a nice phone with all features of E71 and more. A sure buy for those who are not addicted for those touchies.. My Verdict: Samsung GT-B7320 Rocks!!!
Seriously, is this a review or just a rant as to how much you are bored with winmo ?.
@ Murali: I'm not bored with WinMo. I'm bored with the phone which, like I said, Samsung did a poor job of "dressing it up". All of the Omnia line-up sports TouchWiz, the least Samsung could do was give it a touchscreen so that it would be worthy of being an "omnia".
But I'm sure there are a lot of people like Greg and Rajesh who would enjoy this phone because they don't want any fancy interface. It's a simple device, it's not just for me.
hi there. im having troubles to choose my internet connection. here in Brazil, data is very expensive and am trying to choose WIFI to access MSN and browse web pages. can you guys help me ? tks
Phone is good, but not GPS software, u can't handle gps, what a joke
it sucks!!how can u say that it is a smart phone that will suit your business moments??it doesnt even have group messaging..and it always have trouble connecting to wi fi..this is boring..
I have this phone for since september . and frankly I like it since I'm not into the touch screen thing. I don't have any problems connecting with wifi.
for people who wants flashy phones and flashy interface this won't be a deal breaker.
but for people like me who likes to keep it simple. it will be a knockout
O my good! - NO Basic Fetures Like Group SMS Option.
No Doubt This phone has got every thing an expensive Phone should have. It has every thing GPS , GPRS , Media Player, Camera and what not say every thing to make ur communication devise an show off device.
You will HATE this phone when you want to send one Txt Massage to all your friends. This Big Box with windows 6.1.
do not have option like "SEND Txt Massage GROUP " this phone do have option of selecting 4 Category but it is of no use. select this option only to see which name come under what category. if u select option for send SMS from here u end up adding only the first name.
I was exicted when i bought this, and I wasted 2 days in searching this options in Samsung Omnia PRO B7320
i did not find voice Recording options till now.
If some can tell me how can i solve my problems, by loading some applications or if u can help me out finding this option in this mobile feel free to contact me on my e-mail id birender.lal@gmail.com
birender lal
9866223944
samsung's lineup is getting better and diverse. For those strictly looking at a business phone that can handle everyday work related needs then this phone is for you. The features are well adapted to suit most businessmen and entrepreneurs on the Go who prefer querty keypads than the touch interface. I like it. I used to own an N97 by Nokia and was frustrated at the weight and lag on the OS. This is a much reliable and time tested system. Keep your needs simple. This will be defintely a winner.
just wondering bout your statement: "Compared with the Samsung i780, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 seems to be a bit thicker and "pudgy"."
this is the real info:
i780:
Dimensions: 115.9 x 61.3 x 12.9 mm
Weight: 120 g
B7320:
Dimensions: 111.8 x 59.6 x 12.6 mm
Weight: 110 g
------
so? who's the thicker and "pudgy" here?
@ last anonymous: I think the meaning of the word "seem" is "to one's on mind or opinion". That's why I didn't post the specific dimensions. Having previously owned the i780 and from your quoted dimensions, the i780 is taller so the length of the i780 makes it appear slimmer than it is, plus the fact that their difference isn't really noticeable considering that it's only a few mm. So as a previous owner of the i780, at first glance, for me, it "seems" the B7320 is a bit pudgy.
Guga
Remove the SIM and try to connect to WiFi
This is my rating:
5/10 for your below average review
8/10 for Samsung B7320 OMNIA mobile
This is the worst ever review I have ever seen for a mobile phone. You had already made up your mind before using it. Please re-review it.
criticism based review. the phone is cheap yet competetive. pair it up to blackberry and your pocket will feel the difference. this phone is a catch!
I have recently pruchased Samsung GT-B7320
I need assistance in the following if you can help. I have visited your customer care centre in my areas but could not get help i requested
1- I have turn on delivery receipt for text SMS messages but I did not get any delivery receipt of the sms I send. My network Warid have suport for delivery receipt as on the older mobile which I was using I always get delivery report if sms is delivered. Please inform where to look for delivery & read reports.
2- I need to put shortcuts of some frequently used programs on the home screen, can you please guide how can i add.
3- Can this samsung model be configured for using push email ? like blackberry ?
Regards
Asif
parachasif@gmail.com
I am looking for feedback on the GPS in the phone. How detailed are the maps which come bundled with the phone? Does google maps run on the phone?
Your review gives the impression that the B7320 is the successor to the SGH-i780. But that's not the case.
The SGH-i780 is a Windows Mobile Professional based phone. The successor of the SGH-i780 is the SGH-i907 Epix but which is only available in the US.
The B7320 is a Windows Mobile Standard based phone. So by design (!) it has no touchscreen. And there are many fans of Standard. So bashing it because it is not Professional makes little sense. People who prefer Standard have their reasons (google it up).
Please learn the difference between WM Standard and WM Professional.
Therefore the B7320 and SGH-i637 Jack are the successors of the SGH-i617 BlackJack II.
BTW, the successor of the B7320 is the B7330 which is already available in some countries, for example in Germany. The B7330 uses also Standard. Major difference is that it has a 320x320 screen.
The review shucksss!!!!
the Phone rocks... i like this phone....
HI frnds
in last week i had purchased B7320.
This phone is made only for business people, if u guys surf on net or if u have to deal with lots of e-mail then this is the best phone in small budget.
The thing i like the most is the look of B7320. If u buy any phone then it wont look more dashing than B7320. The phone is perfect for business people.
The quality of music is also good, means if u r going for samsung phone then u all guys r aware abt sound quality of samsung. & the bettery like of this phone is also good u can expect more from this phone for the battery life & battery backup.
Hey frnds if u have any q plz ask me before buying the phone on my e-mail id ktn07343@yahoo.com
& any one is interested in second hand buying then also contact me.
This is the best phone ever. Simple and complete at the same time and affordable! It's got bluetooth (all profiles), it's got GPS, it's got Wi-fi, it's got HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2.0 Mbps which basicly means it receives but also sends data at rocket-like speeds. The screen is bright and small, which is a plus to me since it doesn't take up a lot of space in your pocket... but definitely the best feauture of this phone is its weight, it's light as a feather, it almost feels hollow... it's a magic phone... it's got flash support (something the iPhone does not), it supports HTML push mail, Jesus it has FM radio! How many smartphones out there feature FM radio??? It comes with the full Office Mobile suite with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote Mobile, meaning you can edit your Office files anywhere in the world, it's a world phone: quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS... mine came with the smartphone version of Destinator, an RSS reader and WiFiRouter to use your B7320 as a hotspot so anybody with a wi-fi enabled device can use the internet. The camera takes nice happy shots, there's a special mode that will detect a smile and then take the photo. The speaker is loud and clear... phone quality is crystal-clear. Windows Mobile is very intuitive and it's easy to navigate through screens and is 100% compatible with my Windows PC, like an extension of it. SMS, MMS, etc. It has a special feature that I'm sure people don't know about 'cause it's not in the manuals, hold the camera shortcut button and it'll zoom in on any screen... the keyboard is amazing, I can't type really fast without looking at it. It is simply AWESOME!
I'm using this phone for last 2 months & i'm impressed with this. In samsung site & other places, B7320 is shown with a different home screen..somehow i dont find it on my phone..anyone knows how to enable the home screen??
hi everyone, just purchased this samsung model today, and the first thing i want to find out is how to activate its gps support function...haven't navigate it thoroughly though...sometimes its much easier to ask the hows than to study it by yourself...and the homescreen too! anyone can teach me please and i'll be at ease by tomorrow....
yep, was just a bit disappointed that its no touchwiz...
almost this device is good but its battery backup is very poor and i am getting so much disturbed due to this problem
Samsung Omina has some decent features, really liked it however I am facing some issues. my phone detects the Wi-Fi connection, but when I try to browse it gives me an error. I can very well browse the net from my PC, that mean Wi-Fi connection is working. Can anyone help me out width this?
does this mobile (samsung-omnia-pro-b7320) have hanging problems/faster battery discharge problems as I have heard from some dealers. Kindly reply am looking at buying this mobile
I would like to first answer regarding the battery drian question. The manufacturer advises that bluetooth be off after connection is ended to avoid uncessary power drain . This is also true if u have a wireless internet connection and u keep ur wi-fi on all the time. u get all ur mail pushed up to the phone but u have to recharge ur battery at the end of the day .
Back to the subject
I bought this phone because it has the mail pushing feature which makes blackeberry what it is . I could have bought a blackberry instead but this phone does it without a supscription with a provider . The phone did not fail me on this one as I am enjoying messagees being pushed up to my message center every five minutes from 7 different accounts including hotmail and gmail. when I am out of reach of my wifi networks i log on using edge gprs fora small charge. I was also able to read news and rss feeds perfectly well. That was almost everything I had wanted buying this phone.
However since i am new to windows mobile phones I didn't know that active sync didn't work with vista . I had to download windows mobile devices center instead which worked only on one of my pc's and failed to connect to the other two. Therefore I am not able to install any software yet on my device which is a great disappointment since even samsung pc studio is too problematic in use . If u compare it with Nokia's PC software samasung PC Studio is such a big failure .I am still struggling to get the phone do what it says it could do other then internet and e-mail excellent functions.
who appointed this BORING and DUMB Guy poison_ivy to write a Review on such a worderful Phone Samsung B7320 Omnia Pro....
Poison if U were that much Boring then who told u write Such Boring and Bulshit Review..Basta*******D!!!!!
Hi everyone!!
Does anybody know how to configure Destinator to work on a Samsung B7320 (non-touchscreen) Omnia Pro ?
Version 6 that came with the cell phone works fine, but when installing a newer version I cannot even start configuration. The keys on the
QWERTY keyboard and the navigation and soft-keys do not respond. It seems to me that these newer versions (7, 8 or 9) only work with
touch-screen devices. I am newbie in this field, but maybe someone knows how to configure (a Skin maybe?), so that Destinator will use Qwerty
keyboard, navigation or soft-keys instead of touch-screen taps. Thank you very much for any help you may provide. Best regards.
hey gps works on my mobile i m using it for 3 months now. i hate touchscreen phones so this was the best option for me. better than nokia e series 71/72
all u need is a bit time to understand how to work with this phone.
for all querty lovers and touchscreen haters this one is a good deal.
IAM DISAPPOINTED WITH OMNIA B7320, INDEED A WASTE OF HARD EARNED MONEY FOR ME I SAY. JUST 1 MONTH AFTER PURCHASING THE HANDSET THE SCREEN WENT BLANK.NOW 5 MONTH AFTER IAM STILL BATTLING TO REPAIR IT DESPITE THE SO CALLED WARRANTY. IT IS A REAL DISAPPOINTMENT FOR ME. PLEASE HOW DO I GET VALUE FOR MY MONEY. (SHAMSUDEEN SULEIMAN) ABUJA, NIGERIA.
shamsudeen suleiman abuja,nigeria. I bought a brand new warranty samsung omnia B7320,but to my disappointmet barely 1 month after the screen went blank. 5 months after the set is still with samsung authorise service centre not repaired. What is wrong with samsung, where is samsung long standing reputation. My confidence is fast waning out on samsung sets. Pls help me get value for my money.
I want to buy this phone. I want to ask whether it supports Skype for Voice Calls??
I have a problem with my B7320 it's not totally no power but when I open or turn on my phone it only displayed the starting "windows" which is color orange background and it stop there and no other changes. is someone can help me fix my phone I bought it last year???tnx